French figure-skater Florent Amodio

SOCHI, February 08. /ITAR-TASS/. French figure-skater Florent Amodio has praised the mastery of Russian figure-skater Yevgeny Plushenko, confessing the latter had made him fall in love with the sport.

“I developed my love for figure-skating only thanks to Plushenko,” Amodio said in an interview with Itar-Tass.

“Plushenko is a happy person. He is a legend no matter what pessimists may say! I have thought about that a lot. You know, there is something magic in the fact that he is going to finish his career at home in front of his audience at the home Olympics. I wish him success with all my heart,” the Frenchman said.

The Russian Olympics is a real gift for Amodio.

“Many of you know that I trained in Russia for three years. Russia is also my country where I feel really happy,” Amodio said. He praised the Olympic Sochi where he is taking long bicycle rides to the sea.

“Honestly, I knew that everything would be fine. But I could not have imagined that it would be so good!” the figure-skater said.